tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post221044688788104458..comments2023-10-30T06:31:05.501-07:00Comments on MilPub: We Haven't Got a ChanceFDChiefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-44314005697139684152010-12-06T10:08:05.105-08:002010-12-06T10:08:05.105-08:00It has been postulated that in certain areas (like...It has been postulated that in certain areas (like 80% of human activity) that Sturgeon was low by about 10%.<br /><br />Unfortunately there is, as yet, no mathematical proof for this theorem. Though I do note that fertilizer companies seem to do very well during times like these, which could be considered empirical proof of a sort.Plutohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04036751798841079048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-34135811476609616312010-12-06T07:13:38.776-08:002010-12-06T07:13:38.776-08:00Pluto-
OK, but when dealing with neo-cons and neo...Pluto-<br /><br />OK, but when dealing with neo-cons and neo-liberals . . . isn't 90% a bit low?seydlitz89https://www.blogger.com/profile/15431952900333460640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-50644763955436231822010-12-06T06:47:14.957-08:002010-12-06T06:47:14.957-08:00Let's hear it for free enterprise and the &quo...Let's hear it for free enterprise and the "free market" ability to innovate. A good example is the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS). MERS boasts of saving the "industry up to $200 million annually by creating an electronic clearinghouse for mortgage ownership rights and information."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/real-estate/mers-mortgage-database-clouds-millions-of-titles/19746420/" rel="nofollow">Except, MERS may not be "registering" transfers of mortgages, at least in a manner that is legally sufficient</a>.<br /><br />But, however legally insufficient MERS may be, and no matter how catastrophic is may be to future property title validity, they sure found a less costly way to do things.<br /><br />I wonder if Dr Murphy knows of an insurance policy for these firms to cover the damages caused???Aviator47https://www.blogger.com/profile/05585964386930142907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-72643021057247968882010-12-06T06:40:25.353-08:002010-12-06T06:40:25.353-08:00Strange you should mention that Law, pluto!
Your ...Strange you should mention <i>that</i> Law, pluto!<br /><br />Your TSA BloodHounds are on the hunt for . . . satire.<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/28yub6h<br /><br />Here’s what Blogger Bob decided to debunk:<br />This story supposedly took place in Denver. It never happened. And the quote from the “Head of Scanning???” Well, no such position exists and nobody by that name works for TSA. Which means, it was never said by a TSA employee. Some are upset – an understandable reaction, if it were true. But it’s not. The article attributes the quote as being given to CNN. Try Googling it and see what you come up with. (Hint – it won’t be a CNN article.)<br /><br />Like the New York (“All the news that’s fit to print”) Times, The Daily Squib has a motto. It’s harder to find. There’s a down-arrow button somewhere on your keyboard, Blogger Bob, give it a whirl sometime — oh, the things you will learn!<br /><br /><i>The Daily Squib is a curious satirical publication and should therefore be taken fu**ing seriously ;)</i><br /><br />In case the debunking of one satirical publication’s story wasn’t enough tax dollars wasted for you, federal-pay-freeze Blogger Bob continues:<br /><br /><i>This story supposedly took place in San Francisco. Again, this story is false. There are no reports to back this up. If the man was cuffed as the article states, there would be a police record as our officers do not use handcuffs.</i><br /><br />bbbasilbeastnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-80911941961291981292010-12-06T04:46:06.031-08:002010-12-06T04:46:06.031-08:00Seydlitz -
You mention Murphy's law at the en...Seydlitz -<br /><br />You mention Murphy's law at the end of your post. I think Sturgeon's Law is more appropriate in this case: "Ninety percent of everything is crap."Plutohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04036751798841079048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-73362597408478295992010-12-06T00:13:23.614-08:002010-12-06T00:13:23.614-08:00The air transportation industry is a classic examp...The air transportation industry is a classic example of the public clamoring for mutually exclusive approaches to serve their self interest. People want the airlines deregulated to spur competition and thereby lower fares. But when the airlines, in a scrambling attempt to provide fares cheap enough to fill seats to eek out a profit, reduce services and charge for services that were once "free", the public wants the government to intervene.<br /><br />Yes, FDChief, Murphy is worse than a fool, but his ill-informed idea probably strikes a chord in the minds of a large part of a generally ill-informed population that want nothing better than to lash out at a world they do not, and probably cannot understand.Aviator47https://www.blogger.com/profile/05585964386930142907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-82513178205354318952010-12-05T16:44:52.393-08:002010-12-05T16:44:52.393-08:00Al, Murphy would probably say that he HAS "fi...Al, Murphy would probably say that he HAS "figured it out". But since his point really isn't to argue for the practical virtue of market driven security but to argue for the abolition of tax-funded public services - in this case, air travel security - you'd have to accept that the point he was trying to figure out was "what arrangement would better make the case for privizing public services?<br /><br />Unfortunately for him, we've already visited that point.<br /><br />We let the mining industry set mining safety standards until enough miners died preserving the profit margins of the mining industry. Then we established a "Mining Safety and Health Adminstration".<br /><br />We let the railroad industry set railway construction and maintainence standard until enough people died in railway accidents, and then we established federal safety standards for railways and funded inspectors to check on them.<br /><br />The let the meatpacking industry set food health and safety standards until enough people sickened and died. Then we established a Food and Drug Administration.<br /><br />Through the course of human history we've pretty much established that human beings will inevitably choose the lowest standard of performance for the greatest return possible; the notion that somehow a "private TSA" will produce a more agile, more innovative security regime than the current system is laughable - particularly since the criteron for "profitable" is literally nothing.<br /><br />What he's suggesting is that his Wackenhut Air Security organization will organize a security setup that will be so successful that it will deter any and all potential aerial criminality. So the result will be...nothing. No acts of aerial violence will occur. The Wackenhut guys may run simulations or tests on their security system. But they're "inside" - how can they be relied on to think outside the box?<br /><br />Meanwhile, Wells Fargo is over at Continental and Delta running their setup. They aren't sharing information on attempts they stop, or how, of even if they have any - they're in it for profit, right? How will they benefit if they share their means and methods and help Wackenhut stop that United airliner from going down?<br /><br />Plus, let's face it, how can they tell if they're getting the best profit margin for their security...unless they reduce their costs by reducing that security? And keep reducing costs to the lowest possible expense?<br /><br />Back in the 16th Century Machiavelli warned his fictional prince about mercenaries. If they're more worried about their lives than their profits, he said, they would fight so poorly for him that his kingdom would be overwhelmed. But if they cared more for their profits, they'd first bankrupt him and then depose him. The answer was to base the defense of the principality on a military force that was loyal to the state, rather than to their own bottom line.<br /><br />Murphy is worse than a fool; he is a man so blindly partisan to his market religion that he has forgotten why some things were taken from the market.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-85565493325879649442010-12-05T16:03:43.746-08:002010-12-05T16:03:43.746-08:00Al-
Nice.
Murphy writes:
"Proponents of th...Al-<br /><br />Nice.<br /><br />Murphy writes:<br /><br />"Proponents of the new procedures argue that they are necessary to keep travelers safe from terrorist attacks. But why should anyone trust the TSA's assessment of the situation? After all, this federal bureaucracy was created in late 2001, after the 9/11 attacks. Even though the TSA had been in operation for a full eight years, it took a Dutch passenger to foil the "underwear bomber" over Detroit.<br /><br />If the TSA hasn't gotten it right after eight years, why should Americans believe that this further sacrifice of liberty will be the last one?"<br />--<br /><br />Notice that link? Dutch guy . . . US bureaucratic failure . . . what could be more simple than that? Or is his argument since the TSA was established in 2001 under Bush it must be crap? What was Murphy saying in 2001 in regards to Bush . . . so maybe Murphy was full of crap then and is now too, which would prove once again Murphy's law . . .seydlitz89https://www.blogger.com/profile/15431952900333460640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-88517060032118578212010-12-05T13:36:04.121-08:002010-12-05T13:36:04.121-08:00Al,
Great post. It's guys like these that gi...Al,<br /><br />Great post. It's guys like these that give the free market a bad name. They have managed to turn the promotion of corporatism and special interest into "free market" ideology for too many people. The idea that airport security could ever be a "market" in the traditional economic sense of the word is completely ridiculous. <br /><br />"Politics" today seems to be a choice between corporatism on one hand and a pervasive nanny-state on the other. Something's got to give.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-43439718413088838912010-12-05T10:21:49.135-08:002010-12-05T10:21:49.135-08:00Aviator,
The description that you use in your 2nd ...Aviator,<br />The description that you use in your 2nd last paragraph sure do sound like qualifications to be a President .<br />jimjim at rangerhttp://rangeragainstwar.comnoreply@blogger.com